Legendary id Software sold to ZeniMax

News broke today that ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Software, put together a deal to acquire id Software, a deal that will combine two very highly acclaimed game developers.

According to leadership at Bethesda, makers of the Fallout and the Elder Scrolls (Oblivion, Morrowind) franchises, and legendary id Software, creators of DOOM, QUAKE and Wolfenstein (I’m loving the iPhone version), the deal won’t really change how either company makes games.

"We’re really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured," Carmack said. "And we’ve really gotten more IPs than we’ve been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn’t been working out as spectacularly as it could. So the idea of actually becoming a publisher and merging Bethesda and ZeniMax on there [is ideal.] It would be hard to imagine a more complementary relationship. They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes."

ZeniMax will publish future id games under the Bethesda Softworks label.

I hate to bring it up again, but man, does anyone else care that all these game developers are being snatched up?

If this keeps up, will we be looking at fewer titles in each genre — with each of a handful of publishers hoping to push one or two big, can’t-miss games on us?

To be fair to id, they expect this deal to help them greatly expand their studio. And, for now, id will continue to operate under the direction of Carmack. ZeniMax says no changes will be made to the studio’s operations in the development of its games, and that all principals at id signed long-term employment contracts.